Ignoring the excitement in the townhall and local courts, some archaeologists claim that they have found the remains of an “exciting” Roman city in Ciavieja, an area which is protected due to the Roman remains that have been found there in the past. It’s a plot of land directly behind the skyscraper in El Ejido.
Using high-tech scanning equipment, a team from UAL and a Madrid university claim that they have found the remains of several buildings and what appears to be an amphitheatre.
Geo radar has also thrown up at least one Roman villa which could well have an intact mosaic floor.
The project was carried out with government cash under the Plan-E, but the archaeologists point out they have only properly been able to geo-radar 5,000 meters out of the 52,000 square meters protected. They are submitting a report for a full team to be assembled to excavate what they say could be the most important Roman remains in the province, and possibly one of the largest finds in Andalucia.
Romans are known to have been in the area, and a large settlement (called murgis) was on the coast. It has always been assumed that the coastal port was supported by a larger inland village, but this is the first indication of where the town centre may have been.